The first group of SBC Presidential Scholars visit with Sue Sonke, SBC Foundation
corporate manager (seated left) and Cecilia Orellana-Rojas, SBC Communications
Inc. associate director for workforce diversity (seated right), during a reception
at the 1604 Campus last semester.

SBC Foundation gives $100K for UTSA scholarships

(Jan. 28, 2005)--Twenty new SBC Presidential Scholars will be selected this spring at UTSA, thanks to a recent
$100,000 gift from the SBC Foundation.

Aimed at increasing the high technology work force, the SBC Presidential Scholarship fund was
created with another $100,000 gift that was announced at the first President's Scholarship and Awards Dinner
in October 2003.

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The first 20 SBC Presidential Scholars selected for the 2004-2005 academic year include
three sophomores, five juniors, eight seniors and four graduate students. Each recipient is guaranteed
scholarships totaling $5,000, as long as he or she continues to meet the selection criteria.

"This is an important scholarship program for UTSA because it supports areas of excellence at the
university as we move toward premier research university status," said President Ricardo Romo.

Twelve undergraduate majors and 13 graduate programs in the colleges of Business, Education and Human
Development, Engineering, Liberal and Fine Arts, and Sciences have been identified as high-tech areas for
the SBC Presidential Scholarship Program.

Of the current SBC Presidential Scholars, three students are planning careers in research, four in
medicine, eight in engineering, two in computer science, one in management information systems, one in
astronomy and one in university teaching.

One of the students wants to become an astronaut, and another aspires to be a Disney Imagineer. Nine of the
16 undergraduate scholars are enrolled in the UTSA Honors College.

"The SBC Presidential Scholars are truly outstanding examples of the best UTSA has to offer," said
Romo. "We are proud of these students and of our partnership with SBC and the SBC Foundation that is helping
to make their dreams realities."

More information about the SBC Presidential Scholars program is available from the UTSA Scholarship Office.